The A to Z of green IT

Carbon footprint

You know what they say about companies with big carbon feet?

Green IT from A to Z

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A is for Abroad
B is for Blades
C is for Carbon footprint
D is for Data centres
E is for Energy sources
F is for Freecycle
G is for Government
H is for Homeworking
I is for Ice caps
J is for Jobs (Steve)
K is for Kilowatts
L is for Landfill
M is for Mercury
N is for Nanogeneration
O is for Offsetting
P is for Paperless office
Q is for Queen
R is for Recycling
S is for SmartPlanet.com
T is for Travel
U is for Upgrade
V is for Virtualisation
W is for WEEE
X is for Xmas
Y is for You
Z is for Zero emissions

Most probably that they'll have a big carbon footprint and will be wasting money and energy.

A carbon footprint measures the impact of activities on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced and is measured in units of carbon dioxide. And as well as hurting the environment, there is a chance carbon emissions could end up being taxed in future, so many companies are looking at what to do next.

The footprint comes in two parts - a primary print measures the direct CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels from activities such as running PCs or servers. And a secondary footprint, which measures the indirect CO2 emissions from the whole lifecycle of products used regularly - including those emissions associated with their manufacture and eventual breakdown.

Businesses have been trying to cut their carbon footprints of late, with the likes of Tesco looking at cutting the carbon impact of its IT operations, pledging to halve carbon emissions from existing stores by 2020. And BT claims it has reduced its footprint by 97,000 tonnes of CO2 per year by using phone conferences and videoconferencing to cut back on staff travel.

These two companies are not alone - a recent poll of 335 companies found 95 per cent of organisations are making investments in IT infrastructure to reduce their carbon footprint, according to research from the Green Technology Initiative.

BT has also seen a business opportunity here. It has launched a service to help companies calculate the amount of CO2 emissions produced as a result of the use of networked IT services and then it provides a set of options to help cut the figure down.